Scott Francis O'Grady
is a former United States Air Force fighter pilot. On June 2, 1995 he was shot
down over Bosnia by an SA-6 mobile SAM launcher and forced to eject from his
F-16C into hostile territory.

Capt.(Ret.) Scott O'Grady speaking at the Sons of Adam Baptist Church on 22 May, 2014.
Photo and Story by Jaimie Brehler

On the evening of 22
May, 2014, Captain (Ret.) Scott O'Grady paid a visit to the

Sons of Adam Baptist
Church located in North Asheville, North Carolina. A guest

speaker hosted by the
church's Pastor Jim Dykes, in front of a sold out crowd

Scott spoke in depth
about his extraordinary experience of having been shot down

while flying some 80
miles Behind Enemy Lines just as the movie of the same

name depicted which had
some minor Hollywood discrepancies. He spoke in

detail about the
experience of his aircraft being struck by a Russian made SAM

missile while flying 500
mph and approximately five miles above the earth. He.

then ejected while on
fire from the explosion of the missile slamming into his

watched as a young
camouflaged faced man picked up one of the rounds that had

landed inside their
helicopter bay and put it into one of his pockets. The Cobras

went to work as security
from below as they leapt out over the Adriatic Sea where

he managed a glance
upwards not to see his rescuers not jumping for joy that

they had rescued him but
rather just grinning with the knowledge that "21 had

gone in and 22 had made
it out of there alive" as they sped toward an awaiting

hospital ship. Suffering
from dehydration he couldn't drink enough water on the

short flight to the
ship.

Upon landing he was rushed to the hospital below deck and treated with IV fluids

and round of injections
while they brought his body's core temperature back to

normal. They also
treated his burns and trench foot there. Afterward being unable

to walk he was taken by
wheelchair to his quarters on board the ship where he

was given a choice of
three mess facilities to choose a meal from, the Captains

Mess, Senior Enlisted
Mess or the Jr. Enlisted Mess. He chose the later and was

rewarded with a meal of
crab legs and strawberry ice cream! After eating one of

the best meals in his
life he then fell into a deep sleep for a few short hours. He

was then transported
back to his home base in Aviano, Italy where he underwent

further treatment(s) and
recovery. He continued to serve his country for another

year prior to his
retirement after 13 years of dedicated and honorable service to

our nation. Scott
attributes his survival while downed in Central Bosnia to a

number of things ranging
from his upbringing to his survival training and a pep talk

from CG "Storming"
Norman Schwarzkopf of Vietnam and Operations Desert

Storm & Desert Shield on
the value of good leadership. Humbly he finds it difficult

to except being called a
hero when he truly is just that!

Today, Captain O'Grady lives in Dallas, TX from where he continues to serve his

country and fellow man
by speaking about his love of God, Country and his time in

Service (despite the
horrors he experienced) throughout nationwide venues both

Military and Civillian.

Speaking to Captain O'Grady after his
lecture he was asked if he had anything to say about his survival. He
stated that listening to former POW's speak on their time trying to survive in
captivity or on the run conducting E & E to hide from the enemy before or during
their captivity was as he says, "definitely key to his own survivability while
he was on the run from Serbian Paramilitary Forces!"